Kjersti Plätzer

My second win in Rio Maior!

I arrived together with Erik and Stephan in Rio Maior late Thursday evening. We had a nice trip and were happy to be allowed to sleep long on Friday. The race in Rio Maior is always a special one for me because this is the hometown of my friends Susana Feitor and Ines Henriques. We have been together in many trainingcamps. This year I also had to defend my title from last year. And Erik had to, too. We were sure that this wouldn't be very easy, because the fields in Rio Maior are always very strong.

The womens race started at 5pm, 30 minutes ahead of the men's race. The conditions were ok but far from perfect. Some parts of the 1km course had strong wind. My race started very slow! Sabine Krantz (nee Zimmer) took the lead together with Tatiana Sibileva. I was very happy that she was in Rio Maior. She is a very strong competitor (2nd at last years World Cup in Cheboksary) and it is not often that the Top Russian Girls show up and compete outside Russia. It was Sibileva who pushed the pace in lap 2 but we did not let her go. From that lap nobody really wanted lead the pack in the wind. The lap times were steady but not very fast and we went through 10k at 45.53 min. I felt good and Stephan told me to wait a little bit more. After 13k I decided to push the pace and see what would happen. Not many girls were able to follow at that day. Ines Henriques-POR (7th at 2007 Worlds) showed again that she is in very good shape and went with me. Also her country fellow Vera Santos (last year 3rd at the World Cup) decided to be with us. From now on I kept the pace under 4.30 min./km. I was able to extend my lead from lap to lap and finally won the race in 1.30.35! My second win in Rio Maior. Behind me Ines and Vera had a tough battle for 2nd place and to be the best Portuguese. Vera had the better end and finished second in 1.30.49! It was nice to see my national flag on top and to sing to the Norwegian National Anthem!

I think both the womens and the mens race were fun to watch for all the spectators in Rio Maior. In my race the pack was together until 13km and in the mens race three athletes were still together at 18km. The pace in that race was very high and Hao Wang from China was the strongest at the end with setting a new personal best of 1.19.27. Wang was fourth i n the Olympics last year and also the second, Giorgio Rubino-ITA (5th at the 2007 Worlds) set a personal best with 1.19.37. Erik made it again on the podium in Rio Maior and has never walked so fast in Rio Maior. In very good 1.19.44 he was close behind them. The first two were stronger at the end.

Rio Maior was again a good place to be for Team Plätzer! My/our coach Stephan was very pleased with the results :-)

Results:

Women 20km
1. Kjersti Plätzer NOR 1:30:35
2. Vera Santos POR 1:30:49
3. Inês Henriques POR 1:31:05
4. Kristina Saltanovic LTU 1:31:26
5. Claudia Stef ROM 1:31:54
6. Tatyana Sibileva RUS 1:31:59
7. Ana Cabecinha POR 1:33:05
8. Ana Maria Groza ROM 1:35:03

Men 20km
1. Hao Wang CHN 1:19:27
2. Giorgio Rubino ITA 1:19:37
3. Erik Tysse NOR 1:19:44
4. Yafei Chu CHN 1:21:10
5. Jesus Sánchez MEX 1:21:14
6. Andre Höhne GER 1:21:30
7. Ivan Trotski BLR 1:22:33
8. Jose Alessandro Bagio BRA 1:22:53

Report EAA-website

Report IAAF-website

Overall standings women

Overall standings men